Transcriber's Notes
Changes made are noted at the end of the book.
KAIPARA.
Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
[Illustration: KAIPARA.]
KAIPARA
OR
_EXPERIENCES OF A SETTLER IN
NORTH NEW ZEALAND_
Written and Illustrated
BY
P. W. BARLOW
_SECOND EDITION._
LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON
_LIMITED_
St. Dunstan's House
FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1889
Inscribed
TO
_W.H. BARLOW, ESQ., F.R.S._,
OF HIGH COMBE, OLD CHARLTON,
AS A TOKEN OF
DEEP RESPECT, GRATITUDE, AND AFFECTION.
BY HIS NEPHEW,
_THE NARRATOR_.
PREFACE.
The fact that nothing has hitherto been published concerning life in
this part of New Zealand from the pen of a _bona-fide_ settler has
induced me to write the following pages.
Before commencing the undertaking, I had been at considerable pains to
satisfy myself of the truth of this fact, and naturally so, for it is
the life-buoy I cling to as I take this, my first dip, in the sea of
literature; it is my one excuse for troubling the public, and in it
consists my hope that they will consent to be troubled.
I do not pretend to literary talent, and my highest ambition is to lay
the true narrative of my experiences in New Zealand before the public
in a readable form. If successful in doing this, I shall be content,
and trust that my readers will be also.
Many books have been written describing colonial life in this and other
parts, in some of which the writers have identified themselves with
the characters in their stories; but these have invariably been the
works of _visitors to the colony_, not _settlers in it_.
There is to my mind as much difference between the two experiences as
there is between the experience of a _volunteer_ and that of a _soldier
of the line_, and it is on this account that I approach the public with
some small degree of confidence, and venture to lay before my readers
the experiences of a settler in North New Zealand.
THE NARRATOR.
MATAKOHE, KAIPARA, PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
I. OUR ARRIVAL IN THE NEW COUNTRY 1
II. AN AUCKLAND TABLE-D'HÔTE 7
III. A CHAT ABOUT AUCKLAND 14
IV. MORE ABOUT AUCKLAND 21
V. MY FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY 27
VI. LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND 33
VII. A PERILOUS JOURNEY 40
VIII. THE "TERROR" 50
IX. A SALE BY AUCTION 60
X. THE FAITHLESS MARY ANN 66
XI. MY INTRODUCTION TO KAIPARA 72
XII. A WILD PIG HUNT 80
XIII. PURCHASING LIVE-STOCK 88
XIV. A COLONIAL BALL 102
XV. THE FORESTS OF NORTH NEW ZEALAND 107
XVI. THE LABOURING-MAN SETTLER 118
XVII. KAIPARA FISH 125
XVIII. GODWIT SHOOTING 135
XIX. THE KAURI GUMDIGGER 142
XX. A STORY OF A BUSHRANGER 159
XXI. SPORTS 166
XXII. SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND 176
XXIII. KAIPARA INSECTS 183
XXIV. A MAORI WEDDING 194
XXV. SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN NEW ZEALAND 201
XXVI. A MEETING OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL 206
XXVII. CONCLUSION 212
KAIPARA.
CHAPTER I.
_OUR ARRIVAL IN THE NEW COUNTRY._
On the second day of July 1883, in company with my wife, six children,
a servant girl, and a full-rigged sailing ship--captain, mates, doctor,
and crew included--I, the writer of this narrative, arrived at the port
of Auckland.
Our voyage had occupied one hundred and six days, and every one
concerned was mightily sick of it.
Myself and family and the doctor were the only occupants of the
saloon, and as the latter had been ill for a considerable portion of
the voyage, and the captain and myself were at loggerheads, things
had not been quite so cheerful as they might have been. We had had
more than our fair share of bad weather too: seven weeks of continuous
gales, during which the ship had been more or less under water--or,
as the mate put it, "had only come up to blow" occasionally--and
our provisions had near run out, so it will readily be believed the
prospect of once more treading dry land was hailed with delight by all.
I am a civil engineer by profession, and having for some time found
it very difficult to obtain employment in the old country, rejoiced
in the prospect of getting work in New Zealand in connection with a
land company, who were the owners of a large tract of land--500,000
acres--situated as nearly as possible in the centre of the north
island. This company had a board of directors in London, from one
of whom--a friend of an uncle of mine--I had a very kind letter of
introduction to the company's manager in New Zealand. My intention was
to buy a few of the company's acres and build a house at the place
where they were laying out a large town. Being the first in the field,
and having such a good letter of introduction, as well as very fair
testimonials, I felt confident of success.
However, to return to our ship. As soon as she anchored off the
floating magazine to discharge her gunpowder, before coming alongside
the wharf, I looked about for a means of getting ashore, and was lucky
enough to have a passage offered me in the steam launch which had
brought the health officer on board.
My mind was too bent on discovering house-room for my family, to think
much of anything else, though I must confess I was not impressed with
my first view of Auckland. I walked up the main street and opened
negotiations with some of the principal hotels, but these proving too
expensive for my pocket, I wandered about hoping to come across a house
with the familiar card "Apartments to let" displayed in the window.
After a considerable wear of boot leather and temper without any
satisfactory result, I entered a small hotel (by the way, every beer
shop in New Zealand is an hotel) and besought information combined with
a glass of ale and a biscuit.
Having ascertained the whereabouts of what I was assured was a _most_
respectable boarding-house, I set out for the place, and presently
found myself opposite to a wooden structure in H---- Street, which
seemed to my unaccustomed eyes to be a cross between an undersized barn
and a gipsy's caravan.
With hesitating hand I lifted the knocker, and my feeble rat-tap
was after a considerable lapse of time responded to by a female of
doubtful age, and still more doubtful appearance. To this lady--they
are all ladies in New Zealand--I told my wants, and was graciously
informed that she would undertake to accommodate my whole family for
six pounds per week,--which, by the way, was about one half the sum
demanded by the most moderate of the hotels. With a feeling of relief
at the prospect of getting suitable quarters at last, in reply to her
invitation I entered the house.
"This is where they has their meals," said my guide, with evident
pride, as she opened a door on her left and disclosed a room looking
for all the world like a skittle alley of unusually wide dimensions,
with a long table down the middle of it. Not a vestige of carpet was
there on the floor, which was far from clean, and sloped towards one
corner. On both sides of the table were ranged a number of kitchen
chairs, and these, with a sideboard bearing a strong resemblance to a
varnished packing-case on end, completed the furniture.
In a voice feeble with emotion, I requested to be shown the sleeping
apartments, and was conducted to the back yard, down each side of which
stood a long weather-boarded shed with six partitions in it; each
divided portion being supplied with a window and a door, and forming
a bedroom a little larger than a bathing-machine--which it internally
greatly resembled. Three of these were placed at my disposal, and I
hurried away in a cold perspiration, caused probably by the reflection,
"Whatever will the wife say?"
It was getting late, and I was getting tired. "Shall I have another
hunt," I debated, and sacrifice the pound the wily proprietress of the
caravan and bathing-machine had insisted on my leaving as a deposit.
I knew we could not remain in the ship, as the stewards were
discharged, and there was no one to attend to us. With a sigh I
determined to stick to my bargain, and hurrying down to the wharf
in Queen Street, secured the services of a waterman, and was soon
alongside our erst-while floating home. On reaching the deck, my wife
immediately accosted me as follows:--
"Have you succeeded in getting rooms? The children have been _so_
troublesome. They are longing to get on shore, and neither Mary Ann nor
I can keep them quiet!"
I assured her that after an immense expenditure of leg power I had
succeeded in arranging about quarters, and added--as a vision of
the skittle alley and the bathing-machines flitted before me--that I
doubted whether she would find them very comfortable.
"Oh! never fear, dear," she cheerfully rejoined. "After three months
on board ship one ceases to be particular! All I long for is a bedroom
with plenty of room to turn in."
Again a vision of the bathing-boxes arose, and I trembled.